Student Resources

Theatre Arts & Dance scholarships are separate from the University scholarship program. The Department of Theatre Arts & Dance at Sonoma State University offers a substantial number of scholarships to promising first-year and transfer students in the performing arts, as well as to continuing SSU Theatre Arts & Dance majors. These scholarships are made possible through the Evert B. Person Endowment fund and typically range from $2000-$4000 for the academic year, and are awarded to students of Acting, Dance, Playwriting, Dramaturgy, Design / Technical Theatre and Stage Management.

Evert B. Person Scholarships

Evert B. Person (1915 – 2011) was the former publisher of The Press Democrat and one of Sonoma County's foremost philanthropists. Thanks to his generosity, a substantial endowment fund was established to support scholarship assistance to students majoring in the performing arts. 

To apply, incoming students must submit an application, and attend Auditions, Portfolio Reviews or submit recorded work samples depending on the student's discipline.

Continuing students may apply simply by submitting an application, and do not audition or present a portfolio as part of the scholarship process. Awards are made based on assessment of the students’ activities throughout the year as witnessed by faculty and staff (course work, production work, service, outside projects, collaboration, and leadership). Department faculty meet to decide awards in the Spring term following submission of applications.

Scholarships are granted only to those students who have been admitted to the University and are declared Theatre Arts & Dance Majors. All scholarship applicants are urged to pay particular attention to the narrative essay.

Visit the Admissions site for details.

APPLY by 4pm Friday, February 21 via the online google form: Theatre Arts and Dance Scholarship Application Form 2025-26 

If you have additional questions, please contact our department staff member, Douangta Sorensen.

Audition/ Portfolio Prep Guidelines for Incoming Students

Actors: Auditions will consist of 2 contrasting monologues that demonstrate your range totaling no more than 3 minutes.

• Contemporary/classical monologues
• Comedic/dramatic monologues
• Monologues showing contrasting characters

Dance: Applicants will audition by either taking a dance class during their campus visit or by sending a 2-3 minute video of their dancing/performing.

Design/ Tech/ Stage Management: Presentation of a portfolio of the applicant’s previous design, technical or stage management work is required. Areas of design are scenery, costumes, sound, lighting, and multimedia. Students may present portfolios that include one, more than one or all areas of technical theatre noted above.

Playwriting: Applicants must submit with the application a play or plays they have written (ideally 2 different plays), each at least 10 pages long, along with playbills from any performances the plays have had.

Dramaturgy: applicants should present as many of the following as they have:

• Completed dramaturgical casebook (a notebook including research and, if possible, program notes) from a classroom project or production.
• Critical paper or papers (ideally 2 different papers), each at least 3 pages long, on a topic related to drama (or, if not about drama, on a subject in the humanities or social sciences) that you have written for a class.
• Program notes you have written for a show, if available.

A brief interview with faculty may follow the formal audition/portfolio presentation for incoming students.

The Evert B. Person Scholarship opportunity is intended primarily to support promising students pursuing degrees in performance and theatre design. However, at the discretion of the Faculty, an application from a gifted student in other areas of study within the theatre may be accepted. If accepted, in lieu of an audition applicants will be required to present an appropriate portfolio of scholarship, or otherwise demonstrate exceptional aptitude within the applicant’s chosen discipline, as determined by the Faculty. Normally, this type of scholarship opportunity is reserved for continuing students, and is not intended for incoming first-year and transfer students.

The department will acknowledge receipt of applications by email. At that time, incoming students who are applying will be given information on auditions (whether in-person or recorded), directions to the campus and audition location.

We encourage applicants to plan a full SSU campus visit at the time of their auditions.

University Scholarships

The Financial Aid and Scholarship Office is the official hub for scholarship information at Sonoma State University and awards over $2.5M in institutional scholarship opportunities each year. To be considered for merit scholarships, our University Scholarship Program enables students to complete a single application for a chance to be matched to over 200 opportunities.